Siu Ho Sang v The Queen

Judgment Cited authorities (1) Cited in Precedent Map Related
Judgment Date13 September 1968
Year1968
Judgement NumberCACC374/1968
CourtCourt of Appeal (Hong Kong)
CACC000374/1968 SIU HO SANG v. THE QUEEN

CACC000374/1968

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF HONG KONG

APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 374 OF 1968

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BETWEEN
SIU HO SANG Appellant

AND
THE QUEEN Respondent

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Coram: Hogan C.J. and Mills-Owens J.

Date of Judgment: 13 September 1968

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JUDGMENT

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1. This is an appeal against the sentence of five years' imprisonment imposed on the appellant for the offence of manslaughter to which he pleaded guilty, as a lesser offence on an information for murder, in the court below. From the statement of facts given to the court below by counsel for the prosecution - a statement which was accepted by counsel for the defence as being correct - it appears that the appellant had been employed by the deceased in the running of a gambling stall. The duties of the appellant were stated to be "to supervise and do odd jobs at the stall". Early in the morning of the 21st of April there was a dispute at the stall; the deceased, having alleged that two of the customers had cheated, struck one of them - CHAN Fat - and the appellant intervened trying to break up the fight. He was hit by the deceased and apparently knocked to the ground. Shortly after that CHAN Fat left and came back with a couple of friends; a further argument occurred but this did not result in a fight. The appellant also left whilst the deceased closed the stall for the evening, went home, had a wash and came back to settle accounts for the day's operation. This was about 10 minutes to 3 in the morning; the earlier incident in the course of which the appellant was struck by the deceased was stated to have taken place between 1 and 2 a.m. Whilst the deceased with another partner and three other men were inside the premises working out the takings, they heard the sound of approaching feet. The deceased, together with his partner, went out to have a look and they saw a group of about 8 to 10 men running towards the stall. According to counsel "the men were after the deceased". The others inside apparently got out as quickly as they could and left the deceased alone. The appellant and some others amongst the attacking group entered the stall. A fight ensued, during the course of which the deceased was "knifed with a triangular file many times", and, as a result of these blows which apparently were delivered to the stomach, he died shortly afterwards. Crown counsel concluded his summary of the facts by saying that the Crown was not really in a position to say whether the appellant "took part in the actual knifing of the man or intended to kill him, and just what occurred inside, since there was no witness apart from the accused, is not plain", but went on to say that the Crown was prepared to accept a plea of guilty to manslaughter. Crown counsel's statement contained no additional facts of assistance to the court in determining the extent of the appellant's participation in the events leading up to the death of the deceased, but the judge saw fit to accept a plea of guilty to manslaughter and when sentencing the appellant, said:-

"I think that you took an active part in this killing of the man who was at the time your employer, and I sentence you to 5 years' imprisonment.".

2. Counsel had also brought to the attention of the judge an alleged previous record of the accused including a conviction for assault with intent to rob in 1963, but when this...

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